Video: Last Week in Local 10/7/19

Mike Blumenthal

Colan: Nikki Brown from Sterling Sky covers  a little known feature that has been in the Experts Guide to Local SEO since February but we wanted to make sure everyone was aware of this because it is a common request at the GMB Forums.

Colan: Ben Fisher covers what to do if your GMB listing has been suspended. What I particularly like about this article is how Ben goes into the lesser known reason for GMB suspensions and what to do about it.

Colan: Barry covers one of the newest GMB features that allows merchants to claim their listing and make edits to it even before they verify the listing.

Colan: Jason Brown tweeted about the new label that GMB applies to edits that a user makes inside the “Info” tab.

Colan: Good reminder and a solid keyword research tactic for understanding what category Google thinks is most associated with a particular query.

Colan:  There is an unconfirmed bug that has a lot of chatter at the Local Search and GMB Forums. The problem seems to be related to edits to GMB categories.

Carrie: I’m at Pubcon this week – if you’re into search in general – follow #pubcon – but especially on Thursday as that’s when the whole Local SEO Track happens. There will be info sprinkled in though, for example, I speak on brand-building during a link building session on Weds – so keep an eye on the hashtag for some great info!

Carrie: Roger Monti shares some info about ranking category pages, as well as tips and thoughts on category pages from Google’s John Mueller. Sometimes we want the category page to rank better than the member pages – like a topic hub page instead of all of the spoke pages. Great tips here.

Carrie: Really nice interview/thought discussion with Andrew Shotland on the Grade Us Blog about running a Local SEO Agency and the evolution of the Local SEO world.

Carrie: Jason reports that Google is now asking folks to write a review and/or add a photo from the KP with side by side buttons.

Carrie: John Mueller confirms that emojis in page titles are just fine with Google – they just might not show in anchor text link in SERPS.

Carrie: Will Scott did a really nice write-up of takeaways and thoughts from LocalU Advanced – great roundup here, thanks, Will!

Carrie: Andy Simpson found some instances where animated GIFs are allowed as GMB photos – looks really great in the KP – I haven’t tested yet but some potential for eye stuff there.

Carrie: Local business search is experiencing “tremendous” momentum, Google says, with as much as 350 times more search interest in “local” + “near me” compared to 10 years ago. Duh! 😉